OPINION:
Joseph Curl’s “Pathological liar Noem proves she’s ready to be vice president” (web, May 8) reveals South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem’s propensity to avoid answering questions about her controversial personal behavior. Although Mr. Curl doesn’t bring it up in his column, we recall that in the past Ms. Noem chose silence rather than answering questions about her alleged trysts with a former Trump administration official. Both she and the official went mute about the allegations.
Mr. Curl recounts the most recent of Ms. Noem’s red-handed evasiveness on “Face the Nation,” when journalist Margaret Brennan asked about the claim in the governor’s forthcoming book that she met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Ms. Noem’s lame reply to Ms. Brennan’s question was a classic exercise in obfuscation and obliqueness. She said that part of the book had been edited out of the book. Yet Ms. Noem did not forthrightly admit that she had lied about meeting Mr. Kim.
These two instances — and probably more that we don’t know about — reveal Ms. Noem’s lack of good character and integrity. Kristi Noem is a marital infidel and a liar. Unfortunately, these traits seem acceptable in our current cultural and moral environment. But they might make her an ideal candidate for a role on the national stage. That’s a disappointment, even though the public knows that the propensity for high-level officials like Ms. Noem to cheat and to lie is inexhaustible.
JOHN K. LAMBERT
Silver Spring, Maryland
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